Meet Cute
by myPARABATAIisbetterthanyours
Summary: When Toni Stark and Steve Rogers switch luggage by accident a series of events unfold leading them to encounter each other. In the AU where neither is a superhero but both fight the daily fight of life they meet, unintentionally, and shenanigans ensue. What shenanigans? Just read to find out! Fem!Toni and Steve Rogers. Please R&R!


**AN: So this is my first AU, I've never done one before and my friend (Vendelyn Silverhawk- go check her out) gave me the idea. I'd also like to give credit to her for the Bucky's arm thing, she put that in one of her fics and I liked the idea so thanks! I hope you enjoy and please read my other stuff. Hopefully you enjoy and will read my other upcoming AUs.**

"_A meet-cute is a scene in film, television, etc. in which a future romantic couple meets for the first time in a way that is considered adorable, entertaining, or amusing." –Wikipedia, Meet Cute_

The airport was busy which made Toni wish that Pepper had let her take the company jet- apparently that was for important company issues, _not_ for her personal trips. Thankfully there had been first class.

She picked her way through the crowd to her luggage carousel and waited with the other passengers. Unlike them, however, she was not patient and did not pay attention when she grabbed the wrong black suitcase. It looked like hers, was full like hers and had the same scratch marks like hers. It was not hers. Similarly, the tall, blonde-haired fellow at the opposite end of the carousel grabbed Toni Stark's luggage, dragging it off the rotating rack and walking off.

It took getting to her New York penthouse and opening the bag to make Toni realize that she'd grabbed the wrong luggage. She stared blankly at the carefully folded white button-ups and trousers.

"What the fu-?" Toni was interrupted by her door being unlocked and Pepper walking in.

"Oh good you're back. I was just coming to check on Spacey," she said, gesturing to the bulldog under Toni's arm. "What's up?" she asked upon seeing Toni's blank expression.

"I grabbed the wrong luggage," she breathed. Pepper walked over and looked in the bag. The contents told them it belonged to an elderly man, someone who clearly had an overzealous nostalgia for the "good ol' days".

"Well was there anything important in your bag?" Pepper replied. Toni shrugged.

"I mean sort of, I had a large collection of lingerie- don't look at me like that, it's Paris; anything could have happened and I had to buy some when I was there of course. Oh yeah, I also had some new designs for that one division... the uh, the one for the missiles." She paused and leaned back on her tailbone, crossing her arms. "That's shitty. Some old guy's sorting through my brand new undies." Pepper cleared her throat pointedly. "I mean they have the new design, oh dear..." Toni said, backtracking. Pepper made a speculative face and looked at the luggage.

"What does the tag say?" Pepper asked. Toni shrugged, leaning over and grabbing it. _Steven Rogers_.

"Hand me my purse," she mumbled.

"Where is it?" Toni waved her hand in the direction of the doorway. She riffled around through the bag before remembering that her bag had a secret compartment, maybe this one would too.

Between the lining and the back of the bag was a secret, zippered compartment which stored two sketchbooks and some drawing pencils. Toni, intrigued, flipped the book open to reveal a little girl sitting in Central Park with a bird pecking at her leg. She stared at the drawing, following its lines, before flipping to the next one. It was a charcoal drawing of a girl draped over a chair, she was naked and had one arm concealing her breasts, the other holding the back of the chair so her head didn't hit the ground.

Pepper returned and stood in silenced awe behind Toni.

"What is that?" she breathed. Toni glanced up but returned her gaze to the next page- an old man staring at a modern art painting.

"I found it in the secret compartment, they're the man's sketchbooks," Toni replied.

"We shouldn't snoop Toni, we don't know the man," Pepper warned. Toni shook her head.

"Don't worry, he's probably some old coot who won't even notice. Did you get my purse?" Pepper put the bag in her hand and Toni proceeded to root around in it. She pulled out her Iphone and dialed the numbers on the tag. Pepper picked up the sketchbook and flipped through it.

"_Hello?"_ s voice asked. It was surprisingly young sounding for the clearly older man who owned the suitcase.

"Yeah, hi. I'm looking for a Steven Rogers," she mumbled, pinning the phone between her shoulder and ear and snatching the sketchbook back from Pepper.

"_Yes, you're speaking to him," _the voice replied.

"Oh, okay, well I think I have you're luggage. I grabbed the wrong bag at the luggage carousel," she said, flipping the page in the sketchbook and trying not to gasp in awe at the next drawing.

"_You wouldn't happen to be Toni Stark, would you?"_ Toni put the book down and took the phone in her hand.

"Yeah, do you have my bag?" Pepper leaned down and turned the page over for the next one.

"_I believe so. If you want to meet somewhere then we can trade luggage," _the voice said. Toni was quiet for a moment, staring at the drawing in her lap- a tall girl in Central Park with a butterfly on her finger.

"Alright then sir; I'll be York City Coffee in two hours," she said, pitching in a sir to sound respectful. She heard silence on the line.

"_Two hours, York City Coffee. Got it, see you there miss."_ And then she hung up, staring intently at the drawing, the way the hair fell around the girl's shoulders and the life in her eyes as she stared at the butterfly.

"Man, this old guy really can draw," Pepper mumbled. Toni nodded. "He sounded nice though." Toni nodded.

York City Coffee was surprisingly empty for a Saturday afternoon. It didn't bother Toni, though, because it meant there would be less of a crowd for the awkward luggage switch.

She'd repacked his bag, trying to make it look like when she'd first found it, and hid the pencils and sketchbooks back in the compartment. She hoped he wouldn't notice, but this was an old guy. He probably wouldn't have noticed if she'd stuffed a bomb in there. She looked around, waiting for some old, gray-haired man to hobble his way in but was surprised when no one came in the coffee store save a tall, blonde-haired hottie. He looked around, bit his lip and when to the counter to order a coffee. Toni briefly contemplated that this was her guy but she shook the idea out of her head- he did, after all, have granddaddy boxers rolled up in the corner of his bag.

She sat for another ten minutes before she realized that he had wheeled in a black bag and put in by the corner table. She hadn't seen him walk in, much less put a bag in the corner. She stood, wheeled the bag over to the corner table and sat down. He looked up from his coffee and book to see Toni staring at him.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Are you Steven Rogers?" she asked. He nodded unsurely for a second and then realized who she must be.

"Oh, you must be Toni Stark. Hi, yes, yeah, you can call me Steve," he said, outstretching his hand to shake. Toni took it hesitantly and shook hands. "Yeah, whoa, sorry I didn't see you," he said. She shook her head.

"It's fine, my back was turned and I had the bag under the bar. Really it's fine." He nodded.

"Can I get you a coffee?" he asked. She smiled, raising her cup slightly.

"Still half full." There was silence. "Well I guess I should give you your bag back, huh?" she said. He smiled awkwardly and stood, wheeling her bag out.

"Yeah, wow, sorry I took your bag." She shook her head again.

"I kind of took your bag too so it's no big deal, really. But I guess we should spare the awkwardness and just outright say we rifled through each other's bags," she said. He blushed, clearly picturing the copious amounts of Parisian lingerie in Toni's bag. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. She suppressed a grin and offered him his bag.

"I didn't take those designs, by the way. I know that Stark Industries is really secretive with their new weapons designs but I didn't take it or a share it with anyone," he said, pointing to her bag. Toni nodded, keeping her eyes on him- having to peer up because he was so tall. Her hair bounced slightly as she nodded and Steve found his eyes catching on that.

"Need a ride? I have a company car here and I figure the driver's okay with one more stop so..." she said. He shrugged.

"Thanks, but I'm okay with the subway," he replied. She chewed her lip and sat back down, sipping the dregs of her coffee.

"I'd take that other coffee now if you don't mind." She felt herself searching now for a reason to keep him there, to keep him talking to her. He flashed a quick, impish grin.

"What are you drinking?"

"Just a drip, pretty simple," she said. He walked back to the counter and left Toni sitting at the table alone. Internally, she was panicking. _Holy shit he's hot. What the damnfuckshitcrapdamn. What is happening? What?!_

He returned to the table with two cups of drip and handed one to her. She mumbled a thanks and stared at the cup.

"What were you doing in France, if you don't mind me asking?" Toni looked up, processing his question.

"Oh, yeah. I was just vacationing. Spent a little time kind of everywhere but mainly in Paris. I enjoy going there," she told him. He nodded, smiling a little. "And you?"

"Same, but my time was spent completely in Paris," he replied.

They talked until he excused himself, saying he had a class to attend. They stood together and then there was a moment of awkward silence.

"You have a talent," she mumbled. He looked at her, furrowed brow. She gestured to his bag. "I kind of found your sketchbooks. You're really amazing. If you ever want a job, I have a pretty empty penthouse that you could fill," she said. He looked slightly shocked and nodded.

"Definitely and hey... um if you ever want to get coffee again then you have my number now right?" she mumbled a yes and then chewed her lip.

"Why don't you just meet me at Central Park tomorrow at noon?" he blushed and nodded.

"Sounds like a date. Want me to bring coffee?" Toni glanced at the coffee in her hand and shook her hand.

"I'll get it, see you tomorrow." She, too, held a childish grin as they parted ways outside the coffee shop.

Over the course of seven dates, both casual and dinner-formal, the two learned more about their respective histories.

Steve, Toni learned, had been denied enlistment in the military until 2005 after having tried a risky medical testing program. His height and muscle-build sky-rocketed and his poor health- including a series of serious ailments- disappeared. The dangerous medical trial paid off and he was accepted into the army where he served his four years active duty in Afghanistan and two and a half years of inactive. He told her about the special group he was assigned to for special ops. He had put together a crack team of other ace fighters and fought a couple serious- and mildly secret missions. He also told her that in one mission his best friend lost his arm and ended up in the Stark Industry's special vet program for advanced prosthetics.

Toni knew the man; James Buchanan Barnes of Brooklyn. He had lost his left arm which was replaced with an advanced-tech metal arm. He had specifically asked for his team's emblem to be decaled onto the top- a white star inside a blue circle with red and white ringing it. He was a silent soul, clearly uncomfortable unless he was around familiar people. Toni remembered him clearly.

She didn't tell Steve. She merely nodded, bit her lip and kept listening.

She told him of when she had been captured in an attempt to promote their newest weapon. She was kept in a secret hide-out of the radical group keeping her. She got out in a daring escape- though she left out the part about the prototype weaponized metal suit- but was left with an impressive hole in her chest where the terrorist had operated on her. She created a tiny arc reactor, designed by her father, to keep the shrapnel in her chest from piercing her heart. She pulled down the top of her t-shirt on one of their lunch dates to reveal the glowing blue reactor.

Steve was impressed; he'd encounter the radicals that she'd been captured by and, while they were small in numbers, they were tough. He was intrigued by her intellect, left curious about how she created an arc reactor small enough for a small hole in her chest all while being under constant surveillance in a dirty cave.

And then they were dating. It wasn't like it just happened but it also kind of did. He had taken her out to dinner at a rather sophisticated restaurant one night. On their way out he had turned to her to ask a question but was met with her lips. She had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him but after the initial shocked he leaned down and eased her back onto the heels of her feet.

"Call me tomorrow Super Soldier," she had whispered in his ear, leaving him standing slightly dumbstruck outside the restaurant as she climbed into the black company car.

He did call her the next day. And the next day and then they were kissing when they saw each other, or she was mumbling an 'I miss you' when she'd call from a business trip. And then they were on a vacation in Paris because it was their favorite place. And then he breathed an 'I love you' against her shoulder the third night in Paris.

Toni had been caught off guard. She knew that Steve meant an immense deal to her but she hadn't even thought to say I love you. But there he was, lips against her shoulder with the sheets tangled around them, and he had whispered in. Breathed it quietly, breathlessly, into the night. And her breath hitched in her throat as one of her hands slid into his hair.

"I love you too," she replied, just as breathless, letting her eyelids slide closed.


End file.
